This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art, which are related to various aspects of the present invention described and claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light and not as admissions of prior art.
Business processes within or across an enterprise are often partially or totally automated. This automation can be provided by many different systems. For example, relevant systems include legacy applications, such as an Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”) system, and more modern custom applications, such as Java language applications, Web applications, and workflow applications. These systems can be heterogeneous, distributed, and independently managed by different entities of an organization or enterprise. This decentralization and distribution often makes it difficult to obtain a coherent picture of what processes are actually being performed across an enterprise.